Thesaurus of Ephemera Terms - University of Reading

Thesaurus of Ephemera Terms

Barbara Morris Centre for Ephemera Studies November 2013

Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading

Thesaurus of ephemera terms

1 Introduction

This thesaurus is a project of the Centre for Ephemera Studies, based in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication at the University of Reading. It is in some measure a follow up to the publication of the Encyclopedia of Ephemera, and had its inception in the realisation that the Encyclopedia, written by Maurice Rickards and edited by Michael Twyman, Amoret Tanner and Sally de Beaumont, was being used in ways for which it was not intended. The anticipated audience for this thesaurus is not primarily individual collectors but museums and other organisations which are becoming increasingly interested in ordering and cataloguing their ephemera. It is hoped that it may help in answering the question "What should I call this?" Work on the thesaurus has been based on the collections of the Centre for Ephemera Studies particularly the Maurice Rickards Collection which forms the basis of the Centre's material. Rickards believed that studying ephemera could contribute to an understanding both of social history and of the development of printing and graphic design; and the items in the collection illustrate this, covering a wide range of subjects and genres, rather than focussing on large collections of specific types of artefact.

2 Scope

2.1 Genre/format terms Genre / format terms form the basic content of the thesaurus. They include not only printed ephemera but manuscript, typed and some born digital items. Digital equivalents already exist for many of the categories defined here, and no doubt many more will be produced in the future, but the thesaurus does not include digital items for which there are no hard copy equivalents. In addition to genre terms we have included: ?? Marks, defined as items that appear on documents but are not themselves artefacts,

e.g. seals, perforations, holograms, impressed stamps, logos; ?? Paper types, that are of interest not primarily as substrates for printing or writing, but

serve other purposes e.g. blotting paper, carbon paper, grocery papers, scented paper, flypapers. ?? Some processes. For processes such as embossing, and types of printing the user is referred to the bibliography at the end for useful information. 2.2 How ephemeral is ephemeral? Rickards defined ephemera as the `minor transient documents of everyday life' but many collections include individual items that were not intended to be ephemeral, such as wills, accounts, etc. Many such items have evaded the systematic collections of record offices and archives, but can contribute to an understanding of social history, and have been considered suitable for inclusion. Specialist collections of maps, photographs, newspapers, artworks will have their own detailed terminology; this thesaurus covers such items only in their more ephemeral versions. Similarly mainline books have been excluded, though such items as drawing books, copy books, directories have been considered eligible. Some genres such as exhibition catalogues and manuals can be produced as flimsy, ephemeral documents or as substantial book-like objects. Policies of individual collections will decide whether or not to include such items.

2.3 Subject terms In general these have been included only where they qualify an artefact. The assumption is that most collections will already be using a subject thesaurus and will be applying those terms to their ephemera. For the subject content of pictures or illustrations users should consult a specialist thesaurus such as the Library of Congress Thesaurus of Graphic Materials. [See bibliography] 2.4 Substrate Paper ephemera form the basis of the thesaurus, but items on other substrates are included, e.g. wood, cork, celluloid, parchment, fabrics. 2.5 Specificity The degree of specificity varies: areas which are heavily collected such as stamps, beermats, postcards, matchboxes, are not treated in detail; such areas have a wide fan base which will have established classifications and terminology for their own fields. Forms proliferate within public service and commercial organisations: there has been no attempt to include all possible types, only those most often encountered in everyday life, or of specific historical interest. See the bibliography for more information. Nor have we attempted to include all the numerous terms used by the packaging business which has a wide industrial base. [See bibliography] 2.6 Geographical coverage. The thesaurus focuses on British materials, though some French, Italian, German and US terms have been included. 2.7 Changes over time Some items with a long history have changed their graphic form over the years, which makes the earlier term inappropriate, e.g. billhead, playbill. These and items which are no longer produced (except as facsimiles or pastiches) have been designated Hist.

3 Spelling

UK rather than American spelling has been used. It is assumed that this will be changed if it conflicts with a collection's existing practice.

4 Sources

Choice of terms has been heavily influenced by the Encyclopedia of Ephemera with much guidance also from the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus, and the Library of Congress' Thesaurus of Graphic Materials, both of which contain ephemera terms within their much wider scope. Many ephemera collecting societies and archive collections now have web sites and these too have been helpful. See bibliography below. The expertise of my colleagues Amoret Tanner and Michael Twyman of the Centre for Ephemera Studies has been essential. Individual help has also been received from Ann Copeland of the RBMS, Julie-Anne Lambert of the Bodleian Library's John Johnson Collection, and Woody Woodis at Library of Congress.

5 Compilation and layout

The Multites software has been used to compile the thesaurus. This governs alphabetisation and layout. The guidelines laid down in ANSI.NISO Z39.19-2005 have also been consulted. The sequence is alphabetical but a top-term output can be made available on request.

6 The future

Copies of the thesaurus have been printed and issued to the copyright libraries and some others. We hope to provide a pdf version for download from the Department website. At present there are no plans to provide a searchable version.

While not wishing to undermine the integrity of the thesaurus it is understood that users will adapt it for their own purposes as circumstances change The Centre welcomes any comments and suggestions for improvement received before the end of 2014, and we hope to issue a revised version in 2015. Please send comments and suggestions to ephthes@reading.ac.uk.

Barbara Morris, Centre for Ephemera Studies November 2013

Key to abbreviations

BT

Broader term

NT

Narrower term

RT

Related term

SN

Scope note

UF

Use for

AAT EE TGM ESA

Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus Encyclopedia of Ephemera Library of Congress Thesaurus of Graphic Materials Genre/format terms Ephemera Society of America

Bibliography

Rickards, Maurice; edited by Michael Twyman, The Encyclopedia of Ephemera. London: British Library, 2000. Other useful thesauruses which contain ephemera terms: The Art and Architecture thesaurus. Getty Research Institute. Freely searchable online at Thesaurus of Graphic Materials. Library of Congress. Freely searchable online at http:// rr/print/tgm2/toc.html American Library Association: Rare Books and Manuscripts Section Controlled vocabularies: Genre terms: Alphabetical list genre/alphabetical_list.html Further reading on specific aspects of ephemera.

Forms

More detailed information about, and examples of, forms in some areas where they proliferate will be found in: Bigland, Ralph, Observations on marriages, baptisms and burials as preserved in parochial registers. London: Printed by W. Richardson and S. Clark, 1764. Shelford's Law of the Highways in England and Wales. 3rd ed. London, Henry Sweet, 1865. Appendix of forms. Secretarial practice: the manual of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries. 6th rev. ed. Cambridge: Heffer, 1951. Appendix F: Forms.

Packaging

Verstone, P.E., The manufacture of paper containers: the revised textbook on paper box and bag making. London: Verstone, 1949. Packaging catalog: practical information on packaging, catalogs of machinery, equipment and supplies used in packaging industries : complete buyers' guide. New York: Breskin & Charlton, 1932.

Printing

Jacobi, Charles Thomas, The printers' vocabulary: a collection of some 2500 technical terms, phrases, abbreviations and other expressions mostly relating to letterpress printing ... London: The Chiswick Press, 1888. Freshwater, G. J. and Bastien, A., Pitman's dictionary of advertising and printing. London: New Era Publishing Co., 1930. Wijnekus, F. J. M. ed, Elsevier's dictionary of the printing and allied industries, in four languages, English, French, German, Dutch. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company, 1967.

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